


Here Be Dragons

by Netgirl_y2k



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Temeraire Fusion, Brother-Sister Relationships, Dragons, Friendship, Gen, Lesbian Character, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 06:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Netgirl_y2k/pseuds/Netgirl_y2k
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Morgana becomes devoted to a young dragon, develops an attraction to a pretty girl, betrays her deepest secret, and accidentally joins His Majesty's Aerial Corps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here Be Dragons

i.

"You mustn't be angry with Merlin--" 

The young woman stripped out of her green aviator's coat and offered it to Morgana to put on over her own clothes, which had become ruined when - with Mordred's encouragement - she had fed the little dragonet hunks of raw meat from her own hands. It was a surprisingly chivalrous gesture from a woman whose messy blonde hair was escaping its braid and who was apparently unable to tie a neckcloth properly.

"--Only he was chosen for her egg almost before it was laid. Aithusa's a new crossbreed, and not even part Longwing at that; no-one expected her to come out of the shell preferring female companionship."

Morgana felt a rush of fond feeling towards the hatchling; after all nobody knew of Morgana's own preference for female companionship. Perhaps it was this natural bond of sympathy that had drawn the little dragon to her, and it was not merely that Morgana was the first female personage Aithusa had stumbled upon.

Morgana accepted the coat, making a quick note of the rank indicated. "Thank you, Lieutenant--"

"Oh," said the blonde, "Lieutenant Godwyn, but you should call me Elena, everyone does."

"Well, thank you, Elena." Morgana slipped the coat around her shoulders and attempted to extract herself from the snoring dragonet, which had crawled onto Morgana's lap before succumbing to slumber. 

"Don't thank me yet. Admiral Balinor sent me to collect you, he wants a word."

"Shall I bring Aithusa?" Morgana inquired. She was not sure she had much of a choice, the hatchling had already proved reluctant to be parted from her.

Elena shrugged. "It can't hurt."

Can't hurt _what_ , Morgana wondered. 

*

Morgana's accidental acquisition of an infant dragon was entirely Arthur's fault. 

Her brother had left home at fourteen to join His Majesty's Navy, and while he'd been injured performing his duties before, this time he'd required the attentions of more that a ship's surgeon and he'd been flown back to the Dover covert on dragon-back.

Uther was up in London, and as he and Arthur were still quarrelling about Arthur's recent marriage it fell to Morgana to visit her brother's sickbed. 

It was a short visit, as these things went. 

It wasn't that Morgana didn't care for her brother; she was very fond of him in an abstract sort of way, and as children they'd been as close as half-siblings could be, but Arthur was away for long stretches of time, and whenever he returned he found less and less to say to a sister hurtling with increasing certainty towards spinsterhood. 

In any case, she had been assured that the great lummox was in no danger of actually dying, and Gwen was present for any forehead cooling or bandage changing which might need done, so Morgana excused herself back into the charge of the cadet tasked with escorting her around the covert.

The boy had uncanny blue eyes and couldn't have been older than twelve; young to be in the military, but dressed like an aviator in miniature. He'd introduced himself as Mordred when he met Morgana at the gate.

Morgana was sorry not to have met a dragon during her visit; she had never seen one up close. Uther hated dragons - he had tried to prevent the Aerial Corps from so much as flying over his estate, and he could often be heard raging about how dragons were becoming an all too common sight in London - and as far as Morgana was concerned that was as good a reason as any to be well-disposed towards them.

She wondered if all the officers and their dragons had duties that kept them away from the covert during the day, or if Mordred had been instructed by his superiors to keep the visiting lady away from the beasts.

Morgana wondered if, as Mordred was merely a boy and a cadet, trying to persuade him to let her meet a dragon would count as attempting to suborn an officer. 

Before she could decide there was something of a ruckus and three men came haring around the corner of a nearby building -- chasing what Morgana at first took to be a small dog. As the creature and its pursuers grew closer she saw that it was nothing less than a very small dragon. It was running with a peculiar sort of half-skip, as though it was trying to launch itself into the air but its wings weren't quite co-operating. It was making a beeline straight for Morgana and Mordred.

The little dragon skidded to a halt in front of Morgana and sat back on its - her - haunches. It was a beautiful creature, with white scales and huge, black eyes, and it was blinking up at Morgana appraisingly. 

There were bits of eggshell still clinging to her wings; she was just a baby, Morgana realised.

The dragon's three pursuers arrived, in front was a young man with jug-like ears who was holding some sort of leather and metal contraption out to the dragon. "Aithusa, please-- My name is Merlin, and if you'll just let me put this harness on you...?"

Aithusa cocked her head, blinked thoughtfully at Merlin, and made a determined effort to hide beneath Morgana's skirts.

Morgana yelped, and to cover her embarrassment she snapped, "What on Earth are you doing? You're frightening her."

Mordred tugged on Morgana's elbow. "Tie something around her neck," he hissed urgently.

"What?"

"A belt or a scarf, anything would do; she likes you," he said. "Quick, before she goes feral."

And so, without entirely understanding why, Morgana crouched and untied one of her shoes, she tied the lace in a loose loop around Aithusa's neck. At this the little dragonet immediately ceased fussing; she sat back on her haunches, shook out her wings, and devoted her attention entirely to divesting herself of any remaining eggshell.

Morgana took a good look at Merlin's compatriots. The first was a dark haired and bearded man who looked as though he was trying hard not to laugh; the second was an older man with more than a passing resemblance to a bear, Morgana belatedly noticed the admiral's bars on his shoulders. 

"Mister Mordred," said the admiral, "our new dragon will wish to be fed, please ensure that her-- _companion_ is able see to it."

Aithusa abandoned her wings for the moment, she held her foreclaws out to Morgana in a silent request to be picked up -- the gesture awoke some previously unheard of maternal instinct in Morgana, who swept the dragonet into her arms, taking care to avoid looking at Merlin, who was glaring at her like she'd stolen Christmas.

*

It was an uncomfortable meeting. Admiral Balinor turned out to be the very same bear-like man who'd witnessed Morgana's accidental harnessing of Aithusa.

Worse still, they weren't alone. Crowded into the admiral's office were Morgana's self-appointed shadow, Mordred; Elena Godwyn, who was terribly underdressed as Morgana was still wearing her coat; Lieutenant Merlin Emrys, who turned out not only to be Aithusa's originally intended captain, but the admiral's son! There was also another female officer present; a commodore who the admiral addressed as Nimueh. 

In another life - a life where there were there wasn't a snoring dragonet on her lap - Morgana would have considered this sudden influx of women in uniform into her life to be terribly exciting; as it was she was probably going to have several sleepless nights thinking about the turn of Elena's calves in those trousers. But right now Morgana was more preoccupied with the fact that Aithusa's snores had turned rather theatrical, and that nobody else had noticed the little dragon open her eyes a sliver and peek out at the room.

"She accepted her name from me--" said Merlin.

"But not a harness, which is the most important part," interrupted Nimueh.

Morgana fingered her bootlace, still tied around Aithusa's neck and acting as an improvised harness.

"If I could just try again, sir--"

"No," said the admiral, shaking his head wearily, "you know the rules, Lieutenant, fifteen minutes to attempt to harness a hatchling and no more."

Morgana felt quite relieved. It must be down to the stresses and excitement of the day, because although these were trained military officers, and although she hadn't been in a fight since she and Arthur were small, Morgana felt quite prepared to _bite_ anyone who tried to take Aithusa from her.

The admiral continued, "And if she's anything like a Longwing there's no point in even trying to put her to a man. Nimueh, do we have any female officers you think ready for captaincy?"

"At this covert Lieutenant Godwyn is next in line for a Longwing egg."

"Am I really?" said Elena, sounding more excited by the as yet hypothetical Longwing than by the reality of Aithusa. Morgana didn't know whether to be offended or grateful, so she settled on being charmed. 

"If the hatchling could be persuaded to accept her as a more suitable captain--"

Morgana had been petting Aithusa in an absentminded sort of a way, but now her hands stilled over the dragon's scales. It had been easy to object to Merlin, who hadn't done much to endear himself to either Morgana or Aithusa, indeed he was still shooting her filthy looks from across the room -- but Morgana had been rather taken with Elena, and there was no sensible way to argue that Elena would not make a more appropriate captain for Aithusa.

Aithusa looked up at Morgana, and gave a careful wink. Then she emitted a horrified shriek, launched herself into the air on unsteady wings, and proceeded to hurtle herself around the admiral's office making a great deal of noise and mess. She eventually allowed herself to be coaxed down from the curtain rail by promises that _of course_ Morgana wasn't about to be taken away from her.

*

Mordred was set to escort Morgana to whatever quarters had been found for her on short notice. He looked at Aithusa and his mouth quirked upwards. "Very sly," he commented.

"Thank you," said Aithusa, and Morgana nearly dropped her; those were the first words the little dragon had spoken. 

 

ii.

Morgana was not the first woman to occupy an uncertain position within the Aerial Corps.

Elena - who was rather obsessive on all things Longwing - told her that for a long time female Longwing captains had held no official rank and were only allowed to fly under the supervision of male officers. 

Morgana thought that such an attitude might appeal to Uther. So when she wrote to him asking for a trunk of her clothing to be delivered to the covert she referred to herself as Aithusa's companion, rather than her captain. Not that it made the blindest bit of difference, no response came, and Morgana found herself dressing in clothes which had been kindly lent to her by Elena and Gwen. 

The ill-fitting combination of men and women's attire wasn't made any more flattering by the blood, grass, and gunpowder it quickly became stained with during Morgana's efforts to acquaint herself with life as an aviator.

In her previous life Morgana would simply have offered to replace the ruined garments, but that was the other problem with not being an official member of the Corps: no pay. And as Uther was unwilling to forward Morgana's own belongings to her, he would certainly refuse to advance her enough money to establish herself.

It was all the more reason to hope that the admiralty confirmed her in her rank soon.

*

"Morgana--?" Gwen discovered her looking down at a courtyard filled with sleeping dragons. 

Morgana was testing her memory of the creature's names, breeds, and captains. Elena said that it was important that she know this, and that Mordred would not always be by her elbow to whisper the right answers to her.

"Oh _my_ ," said Gwen, looking down with wide eyes. 

Arthur and Gwen were quartered as far away from the dragons as it was possible to be and still be in the covert, and Gwen had almost certainly never seen this many dragons all at once. The sight of that much dragon-flesh had pulled Morgana up short the first time, and she'd been well used to Aithusa by that point. 

Morgana's relationship with her brother's wife was cordial, if stilted. There were those, Uther first among them, who believed that Arthur Pendragon, pride of the Royal Navy, was wasted on the likes of Gwen. And Morgana could hardly explain that her own lack of enthusiasm for the match was because she had been all knotted up inside with jealousy; less for Gwen's own sake than because a wife was yet another thing Arthur could have which was denied Morgana.

Gwen broke the slightly strained silence by asking, "Which one's yours?"

Morgana, who was aware that she was as much Aithusa's young woman as Aithusa was her dragon, nonetheless pointed the white dragon out. She was now the size of a horse, and growing with every meal, but she was still the smallest dragon in the courtyard, and curled up on the back of a Regal Copper she was striking against the bigger dragon's burnished scales.

Morgana was delighted to see Gwen smile. "Oh, she's beautiful. What sort of dragon is she?"

"She's a cross between a Yellow Reaper and Fleur-de-Nuit." 

"I suppose that's an especially good sort of dragon?"

Morgana, who couldn't have picked either a Yellow Reaper or a Fleur-de-Nuit out of a line up, couldn't help smiling when she said, "The very best sort in the world."

*

It was Aithusa's Fleur-de-Nuit heritage that prevented Admiral Balinor from sending Morgana back to Uther's house, and risking losing Aithusa to the breeding grounds by forcing her to take another captain. 

Britain had no native nocturnal breeds. And while it was true that Aithusa's night vision was not as acute as a true Fleur-de-Nuit's, and that her white scales made her more visible by night than was desirable, it was also true that in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed dragon was king.

*

"It's not that I don't appreciate your help--" Morgana said to Elena one afternoon while Aithusa slept through the brightest part of the day, "--but don't you have other duties?"

Elena shrugged. "Not right now. I was second lieutenant on Kilgarrah, but with the admiral retiring we're all grounded until they find new postings for us. Damn shame there isn't a Longwing egg at Dover right now," she finished wistfully.

That reminded Morgana of something she'd been meaning to ask Elena-- "If they'd known in advance about Aithusa, that she would only take a female captain, I mean, would you have been the one to harness her?"

"I suppose," said Elena doubtfully. "But nobody expected the hatchling to reject Merlin; his family have been harnessing dragons since before there was such a thing as the Aerial Corps." 

Morgana disliked Elena's tone of awe when she spoke of Merlin, and was glad when the subject returned to dragons. "Yellow Reapers are friendly by nature and not generally picky about their captains, and if Fleurs-de-Nuit demand female companions then the French have been keeping it very quiet."

"She was probably just being contrary," said Morgana, with a fond look at Aithusa.

"Like being born with both night vision and bright white scales," Elena agreed. "It's for the best anyway; ever since I was a little girl I've had my heart set on an acid-spitter."

Aithusa withdrew her head from her under her wing and gave an offended snort.

"No offense, gorgeous," said Elena. "And I'm sure you're much happier with Morgana."

*

Morgana had very few problems with the parts of life as an aviator that actually involved dragons. The first thing she'd learned was that dragonets emerged from the shell already remarkably self-sufficient; all Aithusa seemed to require from Morgana was her attention and affection, both things she was happy to provide in abundance.

It was everything else that was giving her trouble. 

Elena had convinced a visiting Winchester she knew, with the unlikely name of Percy, to lie still so that Morgana could practice scrambling over the dragon's back, hooking her carabiners onto his harness.

"You trying to steal my dragon, Godwyn?" a voice called across the clearing. Morgana nearly tumbled from Percy's back, and was only saved from an embarrassing and painful fall by the fact that she was still attached to the dragon's harness. 

The man approaching was dark haired and bearded and it took Morgana a moment to place where she recognised him from: he'd been the third man present during her accidental harnessing of Aithusa, the one who'd been trying not to laugh.

Elena grinned at the newcomer and said, "Morgana, this is Gwaine, he's Percy's captain. Gwaine, this is Morgana, she's--"

"The woman who stole Merlin's hatchling, I remember. I'm afraid Merlin is a dear friend, so I'm obligated to hate you, sorry."

"That's quite all right," said Morgana, who had already decided to hate Gwaine when he'd wrapped his arm round Elena's waist and pressed a kiss to her cheek in a most indecent fashion. "I shall just have to hate you right back."

Morgana unclipped herself from the harness and said, "Thank you, Elena, thank you, Percival, but I must be getting back to Aithusa." 

She felt Gwaine's grin burning into her back all the way across the clearing.

*

Aithusa was holding Mordred off the ground by the collar of his coat, and Morgana was all but sure that her hand was broken.

"Aithusa, put--" Morgana offered Aithusa her hand to show that there was no real damage done, but trying to stretch out her fingers resulted in a painful spasm, and Morgana hissed through her teeth and clutched her injured hand to her stomach. Aithusa gave Mordred a little shake. 

Morgana was taking the order that she must learn how to defend herself seriously--

She had been shocked to learn that someone could use Aithusa's affections for her against the dragon, and even more surprised to realise that she herself would endure any manner of suffering to prevent harm coming to Aithusa; Morgana had never before considered herself as the self-sacrificing sort. 

\--At least, she had been taking it seriously until a twelve year old had smacked the wooden sword she'd been holding from her hand, breaking at least three of her fingers in the process. It had already been more than humiliating enough before Aithusa had decided to involve herself.

Morgana gritted her teeth and said, "Aithusa, put Mordred _down._ "

Aithusa didn't so much put Mordred down as spit him out. 

*

"Sit," Elena ordered, sweeping her desk chair clear of debris, and directing Morgana to rest her injured hand in the bowl of ice she'd sent one of the runners to fetch from the icehouse.

As Elena turned away to search for something that she could cannibalise for bandages Morgana found her eyes drifting to Elena's correspondence littering the desk. It made her a dreadful sneak, she knew, but-- 

One of the letters must have been from Elena's father; it was written in a masculine hand and addressed to _'my dearest daughter'_. Morgana felt a pang of envy, her last missive from Uther had consisted of nothing more than a demand that she return home at once and they would say nothing more about dragons or the Aerial Corps.

Morgana was squinting at a letter signed with Gwaine's name, trying to read it upside down, when Elena turned and caught her red-handed.

Morgana flushed, and Elena laughed unselfconsciously. "Gwaine thinks we ought to have a baby." She dragged a footstool over to the desk, perched on it, and said, "Right, let's have a look at that hand." 

"Oh, I didn't realise that you had an... understanding," Morgana began uncertainly. It couldn't be official, she would have noticed an engagement ring on Elena's finger.

"Oh no, we're just friends, really. It would mostly be for the sake of the dragons. Lots of Winchester captains don't bother about an heir, because there're so many of the eggs about, but Gwaine's thoughtful like that when it comes to Percy. But I wrote back and said to him that I'd like to get a dragon before I start worrying about providing a future captain for it, thank you very much!"

"Oh. I--"

"What about you," Elena asked, strapping Morgana's fingers together with strips of linen, "do you have a fellow back in society who you're having to explain all this to?"

"No, I--" Elena was holding Morgana's bandaged hand gently, and her neckcloth had come loose so that her shirt gaped open at the throat; Morgana felt her mouth go dry. "That is, I'm..."

"You're...?"

"Just me."

"Not anymore," said Elena. "You've got Aithusa."

"Yes," agreed Morgana, she couldn't help the smile that crept across her face; her beloved dragon was more comfort than she'd ever thought to have. 

*

In the usual course of things Morgana would check with Mordred if she thought Elena was pulling her leg about some aspect of Corps life, but there were some things a grown woman just couldn't discuss with a twelve-year old boy, so she asked Aithusa about the matter of captains breeding themselves.

Aithusa hadn't heard anything about it either - although she did offer to ask the other dragons - and they both agreed that it was a thoroughly silly idea, and that all together it would be better if Morgana simply endeavored not to die.

* 

Mordred - who had been playing the roles of junior officer, footman, and font of all knowledge - was teaching Morgana and Aithusa the flag signals used by the Aerial Corps. They were very similar to signals used by the Navy, but Morgana could hardly ask her Naval officer brother for help...

Uther had been writing to Arthur to discuss _the problem of Morgana_.

Whatever shard of rib there was floating around inside Arthur's chest that made it too dangerous for him to risk a carriage journey home, it was not enough to prevent him sitting up in bed with Uther's letters in his lap shooting increasingly exasperated looks at his difficult sister.

"I understand that you don't wish to return home, but if you were to marry I know father would settle a small fortune on you--"

Morgana snorted in disbelief.

"No, listen, I know several fellows from the Navy who are looking to marry, and I can vouch for each one of them."

Morgana snapped, "Can you find me a husband who is an invert too, Arthur? We may as well be miserable together."

The words were out of her mouth before she realised that her outburst amounted to a confession of her... inclinations, and the dawning realisation creeping across Arthur's face destroyed any hope that he hadn't followed her meaning.

She fled the room, glad that Arthur was confined to bed rest and couldn't pursue her.

*

Morgana was already sniffling by the time she reached Aithusa's clearing. The dragon blinked down at her with liquid eyes, then swept out a wing and tucked Morgana in against her flank, where it was safe and dark. 

Aithusa was by now the size of a carriage, and Morgana slumped against her forequarters and let the sobs come.

 

iii.

Morgana spent the next week waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the most exciting thing to happen was Admiral Balinor's official retirement. His dragon Kilgarrah, who had been expected to retire to the breeding grounds, elected to stay in harness for another generation, and Merlin was promoted to his captain.

Sitting alone at a table in the officers dining room as Merlin was toasted and slapped on the back Morgana was grateful for her comparative lack of knowledge when it came to dragons, because she quite sincerely didn't see what was so special about being captain to the world's only Regal Copper - Kazilik cross.

She made to leave, and Elena caught up with her by the door. "Morgana, wait. Can we talk?"

Morgana hadn't been avoiding Elena so much as she'd merely stopped throwing herself quite so brazenly into the blonde lieutenant's path. All the same, she nodded and followed Elena outside where the snores of slumbering dragons filled the air, Morgana would never have imagined she'd find it such a comforting sound.

"Aithusa spoke to me, she's worried about you," said Elena. "She, ah, told me what you told her, about your--"

"Oh, _God_ ," breathed Morgana. 

She'd confessed her secret to Aithusa in a fit of tearful worry that she was about to be dragged away from the dragon and thrown into the madhouse for being an invert; it hadn't occurred to her to press upon Aithusa that it was a secret, and now Aithusa had told Elena--

Morgana turned away, and Elena grabbed her by the wrist, holding her in place. "Wait."

"I shouldn't have told Aithusa," Morgana said miserably, "she can't understand it."

"No," Elena agreed cheerfully, "dragons don't understand these things, or the fuss people make over them, and if you ask me they're much better off for it!"

Elena released Morgana's wrist, giving her hand a little squeeze as she let go. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that the Corps aren't like the rest of society, everything is secondary to the dragons, and any fool can see that you're devoted to Aithusa."

"You're saying--"

"That I don't recommend you shout it from the rooftops, but it changes nothing; Aithusa still loves you, and I'm still your friend. And as your friend I feel that it is my obligation to tell you that you are worrying your dragon silly, and to stop it at once."

Morgana recognised that she was incredibly lucky to have Elena as a friend, even if that was all it was to ever be.

"Now," said Elena, "they'll be breaking into the port in the dining hall; come back with me and at least pretend to be happy about Merlin's promotion."

*

Morgana was glad that she had always disregarded Uther's advice about women and strong spirits, otherwise she would be in a far worse condition at breakfast than she was. 

It was while they were both suffering from the aftereffects of the port that Merlin tried to apologise to her. It was a prettily worded apology, all about his lack of courtesy, and how remiss in his duties he'd been by not offering her more assistance. 

Morgana cut him short, standing from her breakfast and walking straight past him. It was somewhat because she felt a pressing need for fresh air, and somewhat because, as she told Elena later, it was a very conveniently timed apology.

"Of course he wants to be friends _now_ ," she said. "He doesn't mind me having Aithusa when he's captain of a heavyweight fire-breather."

Elena rolled her eyes. "You are both as bad as each other, honestly." 

*

Kilgarrah was a dragon who had an opinion on everything, combined with a voice like a foghorn. He could be heard all over the covert proclaiming how _very fine_ his new captain was. 

Aithusa, who was trying to sleep, grumbled and stuck her head under her wing. Morgana rather wished she could follow suit. 

*

With Balinor gone Commodore Nimueh took over as commanding officer at Dover. 

She summoned Morgana to her office early into her command, and Morgana arrived with jangling nerves. 

She had worried that Arthur would tell her secret-- but as far as Morgana could tell the only other people who knew were Elena and Mordred. Elena had it from Aithusa, and Mordred by whatever sorcery it was that meant he knew everything that went on in the covert. 

"I'm sending you and Aithusa to Loch Laggan," Nimueh announced as soon as Morgana was seated.

"What?" said Morgana, immediately thinking of being parted from Elena and Mordred. "Why?"

"This isn't a punishment," Nimueh said, not unkindly. "You've brought Aithusa along far better than anyone expected you to, but you both need further training. Aithusa looks likely be a middle-weight once she's grown, and though I doubt either of you will ever see combat, you must at least be familiar with formation flying. If I know Annis at all she'll put you to courier duties, with as much intelligence work as your dragon's remarkable eyes can manage-- but they'll explain all this to you in Scotland."

Nimueh slid an envelope across the desk towards Morgana. "Your orders, Captain."

The words _Captain Morgana Pendragon_ were written on the envelope, and when she tipped its contents into her lap in addition to her written orders were a set of gold captain's bars.

"For Aithusa's sake," said Nimueh. "Dragons are sensitive to things like rank and title. It wouldn't do for her to become defensive about you."

Morgana was so heartened when she left Nimueh's office that she was halfway across the covert before she realised that she hadn't asked about the possibility of back-pay. 

*

Arthur having been restricted to bed rest just made it all that much easier to avoid him. It was Gwen who told Morgana that Arthur was being allowed to finish his recuperation at home, and suggested, in the manner of the kind but firm governess that she must have been before becoming Arthur's wife, that Morgana really ought to see her brother off and wish him well. 

The goodbye began in their customary stilted fashion. 

"I've had another letter from father," said Arthur, "he's no longer objecting to you remaining in the service."

"Really? He changed his mind, Uther Pendragon?"

"Apparently he received a visit from the Admiral of the Air."

Morgana raised an eyebrow. "That must have been an interesting conversation."

"She's an interesting woman, apparently," said Arthur, and Morgana decided that confused and scandalised was an expression that suited her brother, and was to be encouraged as much as possible.

"There's another thing," Arthur awkwardly began, and produced an envelope from his half-packed bags. It contained a letter to his bank, written on Morgana's behalf. "To help you get established in Scotland, until your pay catches up with your expenses."

" _Arthur..._ " Morgana truly didn't know what to say, except, "I'll pay you back."

Arthur cleared his throat. "I thought that I might write to you more often, take an interest in your career and such?"

Morgana's confession, and the fact that they were never _ever_ going to speak of it again would always be a wedge between them, but there had been a wedge between them since childhood, and trying to pretend there wasn't had only ever driven them further apart.

"I'd like that, Arthur," she said.

*

After visiting Arthur's bank, Morgana went to a tailor in Dover that Elena had recommended as being frequented by female members of the Corps and as such essentially unshockable. 

The uniforms he delivered were cut perfectly. 

It was while trying them on that Morgana realised what a state she'd let her hair get into; she braided it back carefully, tying it with a green ribbon Mordred found for her which perfectly matched her uniform coat. 

The sword she wore gleamed; her fencing had improved greatly as what little of it she'd learned staying with her mother's family in Ireland as a child came back to her, and now at least she could not be easily disarmed by an adolescent. The golden rank indicators shone on her shoulders. 

It was Aithusa's turn to exclaim, in her papery and rarely-used voice, over what a _splendid_ captain she had. 

"Elena," said the dragon, pushing Morgana forward with a foreclaw, "look how fine my captain looks."

Elena blushed - she wasn't ignorant of the way Morgana's gaze lingered over her, although Morgana was trying to show more restraint in that regard - but she rallied marvellously. "Very dashing," she said with a grin, and then pitched lower she added, "it suits you, it truly does."

*

Nobody objected to Morgana taking Mordred to Loch Laggan with her. She had come to realise that Mordred was considered a peculiar boy even by the standards of children being raised to dragon-back, and most of the Dover covert were more than happy for Mordred, Morgana, and Aithusa to all go and be peculiar in Scotland together.

She was surprised when Elena Godwyn arrived in Aithusa's clearing in the late afternoon with her bags already packed. 

They planned to depart early in the evening to spare Aithusa's sensitive eyes. Mordred was hovering around the ground crew readying Aithusa's harness, getting in the way, and looking like nothing so much as those cartoons of Napoleon that Morgana had seen in newspapers when she was a girl. And Aithusa was bearing up admirably under Morgana's fretting about the length of the flight and the weight of their baggage.

"Room for one more?" Elena asked.

"You're coming to Loch Laggan?" Morgana asked, the grin already spreading across her face.

"Not quite. If Aithusa here would be so kind to drop me off at the Edinburgh covert, there's an egg there with my name on it."

Whatever disappointment she felt that Elena wouldn't be joining them melted in that face of the blonde's joyous expression.

"Your Longwing?"

Elena's expression flickered. "Morgana, what if the dragonet doesn't like me?"

Morgana seized Elena hands and squeezed. "It's going to _love_ you. You are going to make a wonderful captain."

"So are you," said Elena with a smile, " and don't let any Scots tell you otherwise."


End file.
